


Downstream

by StarPage



Category: Harvest Moon, Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alcohol, Drama & Romance, F/M, Recreational Drug Use, Swearing, Thriller
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:35:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26013478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarPage/pseuds/StarPage
Summary: A lucky win awards the gang of Mineral Town with a week long camping trip to a nearby deserted island. Starlight Island was a peculiar chunk of land; dark at night, quiet at day, and deceiving no matter what time it was. It was inevitable their luck would run out.
Relationships: Ann the Innkeeper | Ran/Cliff (Harvest Moon), Claire the Farmer/Gray (Harvest Moon), Kai/Popuri (Harvest Moon)
Kudos: 1
Collections: Harvest Moon Classic





	Downstream

_Author's Notes: I wrote this story quite a while ago, originally entitled 'Should've Said No', but I really wanted to re-write it and give it more depth. It originally appeared on my FFN account about 8 years ago._

Downstream

Chapter One

Ann could hardly contain her excitement that summer night. It was a humid evening without a cloud to be found. The stars twinkled warmly over the small sleepy island town as the red headed girl, grinning ear to ear, made her way towards the beach. It had been another long day at work, but Ann was energized. Even with the few streetlights, the girl confidentally walked along the friendly red brick footpath, swinging her arms with a crumpled brochure in one hand. All around her, the night time symphony rang out, and distantly, fireflies darted between the dense forest just beyond the uneven picket fences. As Ann passed beneath the lemon pool of a streetlight, she glanced to the brochure in her hand and nearly squealed with delight again. Quickly, she picked up the pace, hurrying across the vacant Rose Plaza and emerging at the stone staircase overlooking the beach.

The dark salty waves rushed up and down the tranquil beach. Just the sound alone brought Ann a sense of clarity and relief. The water was her solace, where she knew she could hide all her tears and entrust all of her secrets. The moon was a crescent that night, hanging boldly above the ocean like a pendant in the sky. The distant noice of voices drew the young bartender's eyes towards the pier. A small fire was cackling in the sand, surrounded by a circle of large smooth stones. Sitting around the orange flame was the young crowd of Mineral Town, relishing in their summer with the boy who drifted the seven seas every other season.

Ann was certain she was going to burst at the seams at any moment. Her sandals clunked against the stairs as she bounded down, sinking her toes in the sand that was still warm from the beautiful day they had enjoyed. As she came across the beach, she was noticed by her brother, Gray. He tilted his hat up, craning his neck over the lick of the flame.

"There you are. Where have you been?" Gray asked as Ann entered the edge of the light. He could already tell his little sister was excited about something. He knew something had been off when she had gladly sung along to the radio while brewing six pots of coffee for the morning rush; something she was never so happy to do. Sitting beside him in the sand was Kai, who tilted his head back to drink his beer.

"I've got great news!" Ann announced, coming to stand between Mary and Cliff, who were basking in the fire's warmth.

"Oh no, last time you said that, you joined a pyramid scheme," Gray shook his head.

"For the last time, it wasn't a pyramid scheme," Ann drooped her shoulders.

"Ann, you were selling protein powder on an island with people who either don't work out or can't, 'cause it'll kill them," Claire deadpanned from the other side of Kai. Gray pointed his finger towards Claire with arched eyebrows.

"Okay, shut up," Ann shook her head, her excitement already overtaking her momentary exasperation. "This isn't about the so-called pyramid scheme," Kai and Gray shared a look. "This is great news for all of us!" She looked between each friendly face that was partly illuminated by the fire roaring between them. Karen, Rick, Popuri, Cliff, Mary, Gray, Kai, and Claire. Everyone she wanted to be there was. She began uncrinkling the brochure in her hand. "I won a radio contest!"

"A radio contest?" Kai echoed, furrowing his brow. "What kind of radio contest?"

"It was hosted all of last week by OAWI!" Ann told him.

"The radio station on Waffle Island?" Karen asked.

"Yes!" Ann nodded, grinning at the brochure in her hand. "They were holding a little trivia gameshow about the Goddess Isle's and I answered all the questions right!"

"Wow, that's great, Ann," Mary smiled, adjusting her glasses on the bridge of her nose. "What was your prize?"

"Oh, Mary, you always ask the right questions," Ann sunk down to her knees beside the librarian and gazed with eager anticipation around the circle. "I won a week-long camping trip for all of us!"

"Camping?" Karen scrunched her nose up at the thought, pausing from drinking her beer. "Count me out. That's not a prize, Ann. Unless there's air conditioning, an open bar, or a massage parlor, I'm not going."

"What? Just like that, you're decided?" Ann shook her head.

"Let me see the brochure," Gray reached across Cliff. "Where's the campsite?"

"That's the best part!" Ann's face lit up as she opened the brochure, pointing to large yellow block text that emerged over an aerial picture of a ripe green forest. "It's on the Starlight Island of the Goddess Isle's!"

"The Starlight Island?" Gray's brow knitted together as he examined the glossy brochure in the fire's light. Kai curiously peered over his shoulder. "But... nobody lives on the Starlight Island. They haven't in years since that hurricane. Why there?"

"That's what makes it real camping," Ann insisted. "It's desserted. We'll be all alone and only have what we carried with us. Plus, the radio station is giving us rafting equipment as part of the deal. Starlight Island is great for white water rafting!"

"That sounds dangerous," Mary commented nervously.

"It's safe," Ann said, rather in a dismissive tone. "The radio host said it's fun and easy, even for beginners." Ann watched almost impatiently as the friend's passed the brochure around the circle. She grew even more anxious as she saw them mutter to themselves, weighing the pro's and con's. Once the investigation had gone on long enough, Ann lifted her hand. "Come on, you guys! I won this trip! No one just gets to reserve a campsite on the Starlight Island! This is a big deal!"

"Why can't you just reserve a plot?" Cliff asked quietly. "Is it... dangerous?"

"No, it's not dangerous!" Ann shook her head. "No one's been back since the hurricane, that's all. No way would OAWI give away a prize that would get us killed. It'd be bad for their ratings."

"Well," Karen clucked her tongue, lowering her bottle. "Like I said, count me out. I'm not sleeping on the ground during the hottest and muggiest time of the year. You guys have fun with frizzy hair and mosquitos."

"Fine," Ann shrugged. "We'll have more fun than you do sweepin' your dad's floorboards at the market." Karen could only roll her eyes, getting up to grab another beer from the chest sat against Kai's Snack Shack.

"I think I will have to decline as well," Mary said, her cheeks rosy in the light of the fire.

"Aw, Mary, no," Ann made a pouty face.

"My father would never allow me to go to an unihabitated island," Mary shook her head. "He says the three islands with no community life in these isle's are meant to stay that way. People shouldn't live on them. And... my allergies, of course. But thank you for inviting me, Ann."

Ann sighed, her shoulders drooping. "Okay... who else doesn't want to go? Speak now or I'm registering your name on the docket for the radio host."

A beat passed before meekly, Rick raised his hand. "I think I'll stay back, too. My mom needs me and so do the chickens. Hatching day is not too far out now. The incubation temperature is crucial at this time. Popuri, you should stay, too."

"No!" Popuri and Ann cried at the same time, surprising each other. Popuri shook her head. "Rick, I want to go! It sounds fun and mysterious! Like a real adventure right here in our own Goddess Isle's."

"You know what's a real adventure?" Rick arched his eyebrows. "Watching dozens of freshly hatched chicks bobbing around in our chicken house. Besides, your skin is too fair. You'll come back with rashes and scabs."

"Gosh, you sound like Momma..." Popuri sighed.

"If she wants to go, let her," Kai said now, lowering his beer hastily. "She'll be with a group and we will make sure to lather her up with sunscreen at the top of every hour." Rick's lips pinched together and it was easy to see he was holding back a barrage of words. Karen seemed intrigued by Rick's bottled emotions, watching as she drank from her frosty bottle.

"What will the sleeping arrangements be?" Rick looked around the circle.

"Well, we only have two tents," Ann shrugged. "So girl's in one, boy's in the other."

"Popuri will apply her own sunscreen," Rick gave Kai a side eye, who held his hands up.

"Whatever, man."

"Shut up!" Ann ripped in. "Alright, so we have our group! Popuri, Claire, Kai, Gray, and Cl-"

"I don't know," Cliff's shaky voice spoke up now, cutting Ann off abruptly and deflating her faster than a balloon meeting a needle. "Nature and I have never really gotten along. And... white water rafting? Ann, you know I can't bench more than fifty-five pounds. I'd be useless."

"Cliff, no," Ann shook her head, putting on the largest doe eyes she could summon. "Please, you have to go! I won this trip for you, Cliff. You were the first person I thought of!" Cliff blushed madly at these words, sending Gray and Kai into their own eye rolls. Ann was so good at persuading Cliff with just a few gushy words. It was almost sickening. "Pretty please? For me, Cliff?"

The internal tug was hard on Cliff. He had always dreamt of Ann completely swooning into his arms. Perhaps a desserted island getaway trip was the nudge they needed to ignite a passion and trust he had always craved to find in his life. But on the other hand, he couldn't ignore the idea that he was a coward in the face of foamy white capped waves rushing around jagged mossy rocks. One flash of her big darling blue eyes, surrounded by their thick lashes, however, had Cliff irrationally arguing with himself.

"Alright," He exhaled, finally. "I'll go."

"Woo-hoo!" Ann threw her hands in the air before clasping them together. "Aw, I think we have the perfect group!" She paused, arching her eyebrows. "No offense to the rest of you." The group broke into chuckles and Ann sighed in content, already dreaming about dialing the number to OAWI in the morning. "Gray, grab me a beer. Let's celebrate!"

Her big brother sighed, leaning back to flip the ice chest open. He tossed it into her hands and she wrangled the bottle cap off. Ann then cleared her throat, holding her beer up over the fire. "To Starlight Island!"

"Starlight Island!"

...

The clock above the door of the library ticked on loudly, reminding Gray of each passing second of his dear half-hour lunch break. Summertime in the forge was pure torture. But on the second floor of the library, the loft with vaulted skylights were always propped open on beautiful days. Gray liked to enjoy a cola and a book of leisure with his sleeves rolled and his hat turned backwards, bathing in the sunlight and relishing in the fresh breeze. That afternoon had him following along to a detective novel, one he was hoping to finish soon because Mary had word of obtaining the sequel through a book trader. The hero of the story was so good at keeping his cool, reacting the same in any type of situation. He was always getting the girls and bringing men groveling to their knees. Hungrily, Gray absorbed paragraph after paragraph, imagining he was almost there, close enough to touch the hero's trench coat.

Suddenly, however, Mary's head popped up from the swing door for the ladder leading to the loft. She adjusted her glasses and gazed at the relaxing apprentice for a moment. "Hi, Gray. Do you have a moment?" Mary asked, dangling from the ladder.

Gray was surprised by her presence, snapping up from his chair and looking at her. "Oh, Mary," He stumbled. "Yeah, what's up?" He cast a glance towards the clock. Seven more minutes before he had to begin his walk back to work for another grueling five hours. He wanted to stay and read his book, however. His hero and his enemy had cold steel barrels pressed to each of their temples.

Mary shuffled up the ladder with a large encyclopedia stuck under her arm. She gingerly tucked a raven black curl of hair behind her ear, sinking into a chair beneath the sunlight with Gray. "I was reading this..."

Gray took the clunky leather book in his hand, turning it a few angles. "You were just reading 'The History and Geography of the Seas of Tranquility'?" Gray arched his eyebrows. Mary's cheeks flushed as she took the book back into her hands. Tenderly, she ran her slender fingers along the gold embossment of the title.

"Well, I was just thumbing through," Mary shrugged rather sheepishly. "And I found a very interesting page." Quickly, she skimmed through the old pages. Some edges were frayed and crumbling. Towards the spine of the book, the pages showed early signs of yellowing. Mary paused abruptly on one page, pressing her hand to the large aerial picture of the island shaped in resemblance of a star. "Here. Read this for yourself."

Mary passed the book back to Gray, who began to read outloud in the quiet library, where only the dreamy author and blacksmith apprentice had gathered. "The Starlight Island was the eighth island discovered of the thirteen amongst the Goddess Isle's... it enjoyed community habitation for nearly one-hundred and seventy-five years before the first hurricane to cross the Seas of Tranquility made direct landfall..." Gray shrugged. "What stands out about it?"

Mary tilted her head up into the sunlight, closing her eyes and soaking it in. "Keep reading."

Gray licked his lips. "Since the hurricane, community habitation has not been properly reestablished. The original island dwellers of Starlight Island have since molded into surrounding communities on Waffle Island, Forget-Me-Not-Valley, and even Mineral Town. Though community habitation is discouraged due to ruined soil, poor fishing conditions, and hazardous damage to terrain due to the hurricane, there are said to be dwellers on the island to this day..." Gray's pace slowed as he read off the end of that sentence. He looked at Mary. "What... what does it mean by that?"

"It's not desserted."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing, Mary?"

Mary shrugged, pursing her lips for a moment. She gazed at the rather ominous black and white picture of the island, taken from a shoddy plane nearly twenty-five years ago. "My father's been to the Edge of the World... to all the corners... and he says to never go somewhere where the blood is all of one man."

...

"Ann, good goddess, can you hear me out?" Gray sighed. His white undershirt bagged on his shoulders as he sighed. Gray raked his strawberry blond hair from his face, glaring towards his sister from where he sat on the foot of her bed. Ann was in the bathroom brushing her teeth furiously, making inaudible noises as her interjections, much to her brother's annoyance. Gray came to his feet, padding across the room in his barefeet with his swaying plaid jammie pants. "Maybe some things are too good to be true."

Ann's eyes were bewildered, her face seemingly betrayed. Ann abruptly spat her toothpaste into the sink. "How could you say that? OAWI is a genuine local business! How could you believe they're deceiving me? We'll know if they just take us to the hilly side of Waffle Island."

"Ann, if Basil thinks it's a bad idea, does that matter at all?" Gray held his arms out at his side. "I mean... we're talkin' world traveler here, surely you'd take some advice from him."

Ann took her time rinsing her mouth out and cleaning her toothbrush. She adamantly marched past her brother, dabbing her face with a soft cotton towel. "I'm convinced they're all just jealous. This is going to be great, Gray! I've always wanted to go camping with our friends!"

"Well, why can't we camp here in Mineral Town?" Gray asked, earning an incredulous look from his little sister.

"You're kidding, right?" Ann asked, plopping down at her vanity and working a moisturizing cream into her smooth cheekbones. Ann glared at Gray in the reflection. "What, we go camping in Gotz's backyard? We all make pallets of quilts on Claire's barnyard floor?" Gray sighed as she continued. "Oh! What an adventure, Gray! You slept further than two blocks away from where you go to work with Grandpa all day! Truly mesmerizing!"

Gray hunched his shoulders, grounding his teeth together. "All I'm sayin' is that you don't have to amp it up so seriously. We don't neeed to go to some seemingly desserted island, where we are completely out of our element, without transportation-"

"But I answered all the questions right!" Ann looked over her shoulder. "And besides, we need some thrill in our lives. You already remind me of an old man who grouches and plays solitaire all day." She paused from working the cream into her forehead, watching as Gray heaved another sigh. Slowly, she spun on her velvet stool. "What are your reservations exactly?"

"We don't know that it's safe!" Gray shook his head, throwing his palms outwards.

Ann's pink lips tilted back and forth. Her face then lit up. "If the radio host can personally confirm for you it's safe and will not result in gorey death's imagined from the too many horror movies you watch.... will you go without complaining?"

Gray jammed his hands into the pockets of his pants. "Maybe. If he's got some solid facts to back it up."

"Fine. I'll talk to him in the morning."

"Fine," Gray pursed his lips, looking at his little sister. She continued with her nightly routine of applying acne cream to her chin and dabbing her lips clean of lip gloss. Gray shuffled his feet at the door, hesitating before leaving. "This camping trip isn't about Cliff, is it?"

Ann was defensive immediately. "No," She furrowed her brow. "Why would you say something so stupid like that?"

Gray gave her a deadpanned look, gripping the door knob. "Just wanted to have my stories straight when people ask how my little sister killed all of my friends. Good night," Gray left before Ann could get another edge in.

When Gray entered his living quarters next door, Kai and Cliff were sunk down against the wall with disregarded glasses at their feet. Cliff seemed rather disappointed. Kai was patting him on the back. "It's alright, dude," Kai was saying. "She can't bring it up every time." Gray rolled his eyes, sinking down into a stool at the shared table in the room. Kai immediately popped to his feet. "So, we're still going?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Gray shrugged.

Kai beamed down at Cliff. "C'mon, get up, Cliff. Let's talk about what you can do to woo that girl's heart," Kai reached down, grabbing his hand and tugging him up. "We'll give you all the tips about being a sexy wilderness survivin' man, just like you'd expect from a guy that wears a bear skin vest!"

Cliff blushed madly. Gray could only sigh. Kai grinned deviously. There were many differing opinions about Starlight Island and the idea of a week long camping trip floating about the young community of Mineral Town. Karen preached to Rick over the phone that evening that the rest of them were petulant, immature fools. Rick had hopelessly agreed. But Popuri was starry eyed, hidden away in her bedroom and packing every little thing she felt to be a necessity for a trip such as this. Even Claire herself was excited to have a break from the tiring work on her farm. She hadn't had a significant break since moving to the island two years ago. Gray had to convince himself things would be fine. It was a simple camping trip, he told himself. That's all.


End file.
